Dr Peter Ridd at an event hosted by the Institute of Public Affairs (Credit: YouTube/IPA via DeSmogBlog)

Climate science denial groups from the UK, U.S. and Australia have leapt to support a controversial marine scientist who was fired from his job at an Australian university.

Dr Peter Ridd, formerly a professor at James Cook University (JCU), was sacked for repeated breaches of his employment’s code of conduct, according to a statement from the University.

Ridd claims that the Great Barrier Reef is “in great shape” and dismisses evidence that human activities including dredging and human-caused global warming have damaged the internationally iconic marine wonder. Back-to-back coral bleaching events linked to record-breaking sea surface temperatures have killed about one third of the reef's corals.

The university says it censured Ridd for repeated breaches of its Code of Conduct, which among other things asks academics to respect the reputations of colleagues, to act collegially and maintain confidentiality about University business.

U.S.-based climate science denier Anthony Watts, on his WattsUpWithThat website, claimed Ridd was fired 'for having an opinion on climate they didn’t like'.

In Australia, Melbourne’s Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) – a long pusher of climate science denial – has already paid more than $6,000 towards Ridd’s legal fees while helping coordinate his funding campaign. IPA executive director John Roskam and several IPA staffers have been active on social media pushing Ridd’s case.

“They included a James Cook University geophysicist, Prof Peter Ridd and the IPA senior fellow Jennifer Marohasy, who has accused the Bureau of Meteorology of corrupting the temperature record and whom Roskam described as “Australia’s authority on temp…” https://t.co/m1qzc5So2u

Dean described Ridd as a “friend of the show” and told him: “You are a brave warrior for free speech and more importantly a scientist prepared to buck the all pervasive current zeitgeist about climate change and what we call the climate change hoax.”

Ridd, whose JCU laboratory used to consult for major coal terminal projects, claims to have checked his fellow scientists' claims about the impacts of dredging, nutrient run-off, and climate change on the health of the Great Barrier reef, and has found it wanting.